A man tied to a pole in Ghobeiri, a suburb of southern Beirut, with a sign that says thief, Jan. 22, 2023. (Credit: Picture circulating on social media since the incident with no identified source)
BEIRUT — A private security company in Lebanon is being sued after its staff tied an alleged thief to first one pole and then another pole in the same area, in Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday.
The municipality of Ghobeiri is launching a legal case against Metropolitan, the private security company, after pictures emerged on social media showing what appears to be two security guards tying a man against a pole. In one photo the man's face is being covered and on his t-shirt there is a sign written in Arabic that reads "thief."
The images on social media show the man tied to poles in two different locations — which L'Orient Today confirmed with a senior source at Metropolitan.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told L'Orient Today said that the alleged thief tried to break into offices belonging to a client when the security guards caught him. The source said that his guards were "peer pressured" by the residents of the area into publicly shaming the alleged thief, confirming that the man was tied in two adjacent locations by his guards.
The source also claimed that Metropolitan had called the ISF and the Ghobeiri municipality but that they were "slow to come," so they gave orders to free the man. The company says it has opened an investigation into the matter.
"What happened with the guards was something that we do not accept, we respect human rights and the man should have been handed over to security forces," the source added.
A source at the ISF told L'Orient Today that when they went to the area they did not find the man and they don't know his name.
L'Orient Today also contacted the head of the municipality of Ghobeiri, Mouin Khalil, who said it was suing the private security company for bypassing the law and wrongfully taking on the role of official security. On Tuesday the municipality released a statement condemning the incident and declaring it had nothing to do with the matter.
"We don't even know if he was a thief, we don't know what he did, but in all cases, the security forces or our police should have dealt with the matter — not a private company," Khalil said, adding that he doesn't know the name of the man who was tied nor his nationality and that even following the incident the man was not handed over to the municipality's police.
A taxi driver who witnessed one of the two incidents told L'Orient Today, "It is unfortunate, they shouldn't tie him, worst case beat him up and hand him over to the police, but not the way it happened."
A shop owner also told L'Orient Today that the man accused of being a thief had a reputation for stealing.
